Dinétah Rock Art & Pueblitos

Dinétah is the traditional homeland of the Navajo people. The region is full of Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) and Navajo rock art and small Navajo ruins called pueblitos, which is Spanish for “little pueblos.” There is also evidence left by the Ute tribes and early Spanish explorers and settlers. While not a National Park, these sites are of great interest to those interested in visiting Aztec Ruins National Monument, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Mesa Verde National Park.

Crow Canyon Rock Art

The traditional boundaries for Dinétah are marked by four mountains: Hesperus Peak to the north, Mount Taylor to the south, Blanca Peak to the east, and the San Francisco Peaks to the west. The heart of the region includes Blanco, Largo, Carrizo and Gobernador Canyons east of Farmington, NM. Within the four sacred mountain boundaries are three more sacred mountains important to Navajo culture: Huerfano Mesa, Gobernador Knob, and Navajo Mountain.

Rock Art

The earliest rock art found in the region was carved by the Ancestral Puebloan people, the same people who built Aztec Ruins, Salmon Ruins, and the ruins at Chaco Canyon, and Mesa Verde.

Most of the other rock art is Navajo. Images of animals, humans, supernatural beings, plants, geometric figures, and weapons are carved or painted on the canyon walls. Most of the images are grouped into “panels” and are believed to be ceremonial in nature as many of the images found on the canyon walls are also found in Navajo ceremonial sand paintings. Crow Canyon is an excellent example of Navajo rock art.

Later rock art consists of early Spanish settlers and explorers who left their names and sometimes the dates on the rock walls, often next to the Navajo rock art, or on top of them.

Pueblitos

There are more than 200 known pueblitos found in the core region of the Dinétah that were built between 1680 and 1775. They range from one-room structures to larger sites that include hogans, trash mounds, hearths, sweat lodges and rock art panels near a pueblito. The pueblitos themselves vary in size, from one room to over 40 rooms, built from sandstone slabs and mud mortar. Most are built to be defensive sites, with low doors and small windows, accessible by ladder or hand-and-toe holds and built on isolated boulders or pinnacles. Some of the larger and more accessible pueblitos have undergone stabilization by the BLM to preserve the structures.